You can try to rub your finish to fix your problem. Use 400 grade sandpaper put in a hand block to sand your finish. sand it until all your nibs is gone and you get a smooth and even surface. After that you can rub your finishing with steel wool to bring up your sheen. Then you can apply a paste wax to polish the surface. If you sanding process cannot give you a even surface then you need to re coat with your oil.

Wow, lots of questions / info here. Exterior - YES, get the Sutherland Welles Exterior (link above) - that's what I would use on that Mahogany door (don't know WHY anyone would stain solid mahogany in the first place). Countertops - YES - DEFINITELY do the bottoms and edges you do not see - one-two good coats on the bottom is fine. The end grain will ALWAYS suck up a lot of any finish - oil or paint. Shine / lustre: My sealer coats from Treehouse Lab had NO shine at all. I chose Medium luster for my finish coats (Sutherland Welles), but they also sell a Low Lustre version. I never did buff the Treehouse Labs stuff though, but a bit of shine did appear after I steel wooled it, so it COULD potentially create a low-lustre finish if you buff it with a rag or car buffer. Tung oil soaking in too fast: That is normal depending on the wood, the temperature / humidity and the percentage of thinner. My really old and well-worn oak floors soaked up the Tung Oil like there's no tomorrow - that was MUCH easier to finish than my new Sassafrass flooring. New wood takes a lot longer because it is not as thirsty - so excess beads up and you MUST remove it or it'll leave ugly spots / blotches. Also, apparently plywood and veneers do not absorb it either - Sutherland Welles sells another kind of surface tung oil for veneers. Just keep applying more coats until it will not drink up the oil after 15-20 minutes. Then use steel wool, apply 2 finish coats and buff with a rag or car buffer. I used 8 coats on my oak floor. Citrus vs. Paint thinner / mineral spirits: They both work. Honestly, the citrus smell is INTENSE and (at least if you do a large surface area) the smell lasted for WEEKS in the house! It was like drowning in one of those pools filled with balls for kids, but if it was filled with oranges instead! I used that for my sealer coats (and would probably do the same on a countertop), but for my Sutherland Welles finish coats I bought the regular version thinned with Mineral Spirits (much cheaper, and if I had to smell anymore oranges I was going to kill someone). I still cleaned my brushes and rags with mineral spirits (originally I tried to save the cheesecloth by rinsing in mineral spirits, but eventually I just switched to cheap lint-free rags and threw them out when they became too saturated because the mineral spirits ended up costing more in both time and money). Raw 100% tung oil. Seriously? I have NEVER heard anyone say that that works - I have only read the opposite - it goes NOT get absorbed at all and it just sits on the surface forming an uneven surface. There are tung oil varnishes that are applied thicker, but I've never used them (Sutherland Welles has TONS of different kinds of Tung Oil for various applications - you really have to spend a long time navigating their site). But, that is a very difficult finish to apply, NOT DIY friendly. Minwax Tung Oil varnish is easy to use and is shiny - but I would NOT use that on a countertop (too many chemical dryers and other additives). Drying rags - just let them sit out on some newspaper and they will turn to "plastic" in 24-48 hours and you can throw them out. You can do this inside or outside. You can't wash them in water - the oil repels water. Some people seal them in a water-filled container before throwing out, but I don't think that's safe because the container can open up at any time. Note that it is not the Tung Oil that is combustible, it is the THINNER! Drying the rag is the same as the wood drying - the thinner evaporates out and leaves just the tung oil (and any additives if you use a varnish) behind.

I just installed a maple countertop. After much research I went with the Good Stuff - I did three coats. Less than two months later the finish is mostly gone - I need to finish it with something that will last longer. Is Waterlox a good choice? I presume all I need to do is sand the counter to make sure all the Good Stuff is gone and then apply the Waterlox sealer using a brush. Any advice?

skanman, Well, I did preface my comments by apologizing first but I indeed could not resist challenging an argument that, by its own merits, contradicted itself at every point, turn and conclusion. I certainly did not mean to offend bob but merely wanted to point out that just because Waterlox mixes tung oil with solvents and other chemicals to create a finish does not mean it no longer has tung oil in it as bobÂs argument implies. Similarly, just because bread is not flour does not mean bread no longer has flour in it. It is a line of logic truly in its simplest and most basic form. And, for the record, Waterlox is a very good product. Bob goes further to illustrate his point by referencing that the Waterlox MSDS data sheet does not even include tung oil as an ingredient concluding that his statement must then in fact be true. I believe the MSDS data sheet is more technically referred to as the Material Safety Data Sheet which is required disclosure under applicable labor and product safety laws to list the contents of products, certain contents of which are considered hazardous, and for which safe handling procedures are required. I must admit that I found it interesting on the surface that the Waterlox MSDS sheet in fact does not list tung oil at all. However, not withstanding my ignorance and all, I added the components as listed on the Waterlox Original product MSDS. According to both hands and feet and my trusty abacus, I came up with 75.06% (wouldnÂt Jethro Clampett be so proud!) which does not account for 100% of the material. Since tung oil in its purest form is not considered a toxic substance, could it be that the remaining 23.96% is TUNG OIL that is not required to be listed because it is NON-TOXIC and approved for use in food preparation areas? I merely speculate this to be the case but have called the Waterlox technical line to confirm (since wikipedia did not know the answer to this mystery). But skanmanÂdude! I mean really dude! Seriously though dude!!! DUDE??? Just exactly what was that in your post that started with "WHOA" ? Sorry but I could not follow it or its point past "WHOA!". I mean DUDE, really, get some ventilation in that high VOC paint room of yours. You say "sticking to your vegitarian analogy think of boca burgers containing 15-40 percent beef. youd be hard pressed to find a true pure tung oil, the only one I know of can be bought through the "real milk paint company,Â" HUH? REALLY DUDE! You need to ventilate that room of yours. BTW, your milk company has 100% pure light tung oil for $16.95 and dark for $20, not $40. OH, and wikipedia defines tannins, which I am very familiar with, but neither wikipedia nor I are familiar with tannin oils. Anyway, before you advise well wishers go to wikipedia before flexing their ignorance, maybe you should oxygenate and practice the same.